Pics: Accidents in India

This is a discussion on Pics: Accidents in India within Road Safety, part of the Team-BHP category; Originally Posted by King_pin09
In my opinion, if not the Merc then the Blue car (Polo?) would have got crushed ...

I feel that the first ksrtc bus seen in the video, going in the opposite direction was in an extreme overtaking manoeuvre and would have blinded both the merc and the oncoming bus, leaving the involved vehicles helpless.

Though the damage on the merc appears less, the car probably is going to end up as total loss.

This is a very common practice during the monsoon season as well if its raining heavily. I have observed quite a few vehicles with their blinkers on, and during a turn, there is no indication of the turn signal since its flashing continously and the driver has forgotton that fact. Also it is used to indicate when a vehicle wants to go straight in a junction. Its quite confusing in the usage, when its used in these kind of circumstances.

1. Firstly, the road, as it appears, is a two lane undivided road within a inhabited (urban/ rural) limit. Naturally, one has to be expecting sudden entrants like, rickshaw, children, cattle, two wheelers, etc, into the pathway as a norm.

2. The surface seems to have been wet due to downpours; this would reduce the braking efficiency for any vehicle.

3. As few other members over here have mentioned, the bus driver might have moved on to the shoulder, due to the first bus not having completed its overtaking process. The driver might have also had restricted vision due to the first bus blocking a portion from the front view.

4. The fuel station is located on the same side of the bus path. Movement of vehicles into and from the fuel station needs to be accounted by the KeRTC driver.

5)Under the circumstances, it is expected that the KeRTC bus driver drives at sane speed so that he can maintain full control over the vehicle.

6)From the video it is clear that the car was hit a few moments after it made the turn and not immediately. This means the bus driver had some time in hand to apply brakes and come to a halt. However from the video it appears that the driver did not apply brakes on time.

Coming to the theory of brake locking, we are judging it based on the video footage. However one has to account for a phenomenon called “aliasing” where the wheels can appear as stationery or even moving backwards on a video footage even while the vehicle is moving in a forward direction. This effect is creatively used in commercials.

7) Coming to the theory of the Merc attempting entry into the gas station from the exit point, the Merc driver had promptly turned on the indicator and commenced the turning maneuver a healthy 7 seconds prior to the crash. Going by the speed of the bus (around 60Kmph) it would have been at least a good 100-120 metres away from the Merc at the moment the Car began its turning maneuver. So definitely the driver had ample time to slow down the bus and avoid the accident.

8) In my opinion, if not the Merc then the Blue car (Polo?) would have got crushed after exit under the speeding bus.

1)Welcome to National Highways in Kerala. Four lane highways are like mermaids. Often talked about but never seen :P

2)Aye. People forget things change when it rains.

3)Perhaps. Who knows.

4)More so by the people entering and exiting the fuel bunk. And that was the exit part where the merc was trying to enter.

5)Good luck. Fat chance of that happening. Easier to drive defensively. We people in Kerala move when we see the Red Devil in our rearview mirrors.

6)Tyres were turned to the right but bus had no option but to keep going straight.

7) He had his hazards on for some reason. How would the bus driver know he was going to turn? Besides indicators do not give you right of way. Seconds, Distances, Speeds et all becomes subjective and rather immaterial. Whole lotta "Ifs" there.

Looks like merc was trying to enter from exit way of the petrol pump station.

This must be the reason: The fuel cap is placed on the right side (Driver side) for this German car. So, if he gets in from the other entry, he will have to go behind the vending machine in order for the nozzle to reachable . None of us saw the fuel station. Not sure if there is enough space to do so.

....the Merc driver had promptly turned on the indicator and commenced the turning maneuver a healthy 7 seconds prior to the crash.

A vehicle (the car) cutting into the lane of another vehicle (the Bus) and expecting the Bus to come to a dead stop is clearly not right.

It was the duty of the car driver to ensure that the opposite lane was clear to be able to safely complete the turn and only then cross the road.

By miscalculating and taking the turn and not being able to clear the Bus' path in time, the car driver subjected himself to the mercy of the Bus (chance of stopping), whether the Bus would be able to halt in time or not would depend on a number of variables (wet slippery road, vehicle in front of the bus blocking view, condition of the tyres, massive momentum of the bus or just pure alertness levels and so on).

Basic defensive driving missing on the part of the car driver. Putting on indicators and barging across the Bus' path doesn't give the car the right of way. This is what everybody does all the time on our roads, always cutting into other's lane and expecting others to brake hard and give way, clear lack of basic driving etiquette.

All said and done, the Merc's driver could've avoided all this through better driving habits, and one can only hope he hasn't postponed his lesson for another time when he isn't so lucky with the consequences.

Yes. That is correct. Hazards turn on automatically whenever there is an impact. It happened to me in my Liva when there was a slight impact with an Indica. And my model did not have either the airbag or the ABS.

Street race between three cars that happened on Saturday late night on the E-city elevated highway leaves one teen dead. Father's booked since cars were in their names and all drivers were in their teens.

Street race between three cars that happened on Saturday late night on the E-city elevated highway leaves one teen dead. Father's booked since cars were in their names and all drivers were in their teens.

The Rapid looks to be relatively intact. The driver may not have been wearing a seat belt. The Innova is badly damaged and yet the driver has survived. Seat belts make a big difference to survival. The parents should be held accountable for allowing their underage children to drive. In any case no punishment could be harsher than dealing with losing a child.

Saw this last Friday on NECE road in Bangalore. Lucky for the driver that the vehicle hasn't fallen on its side. Bad tyre maintenance is the main reason for such accidents

Quote:

Originally Posted by FORTified

This must be the reason: The fuel cap is placed on the right side (Driver side) for this German car. So, if he gets in from the other entry, he will have to go behind the vending machine in order for the nozzle to reachable . None of us saw the fuel station. Not sure if there is enough space to do so.

That cannot be a reason for entering from the exit lane!
I'm driving cars which has fuel filling on the driver side for more than 7 years now.
Never have I faced this problem! All fuel stations have more than one lane and hence the fuel filling nozzle is either on your right or on the left. If at all you are really particular you can always wait for the lane with the nozzle on whichever side the fuel cap on your car is. Also, unlike olden days, the hoses are really long enough to go around the car. In a rare case that the hose is not long enough, all you have to do is stop a little further and the nozzle can reach.